The First Battalion of The Otago Rifle Volunteers was established on the 20th of May, 1898, with its headquarters at Dunedin. The Battalion comprises: A Company, Dunedin City Guards; B Company, Bruce Rifles; C Company, East Taieri Rifles; D Company, North Dunedin Rifles; E Company, Dunedin Highland Rifles; F Company, Kaitangata Rifles; G Company, Dunedin City Rifles; H Company, Dunedin Rifles; I Company, Wakari Rifles; J Company, Caversham Rifles; K Company, Owaka Rifles; L Company, Clutha Rifles; M Company, Green Island Rifles; N Company, Poptunoa Rifles; and the Dunedin Volunteer Cycle Corps. The staff officers of the battalion are: Lieutenant-Colonel E. R. Smith, V.D., Major S. S. Myers, Captain-Adjutant A. Stoneham, Captain-Quartermaster J. McIndoe, Surgeon-Major W. J. Will, Honorary-Chaplain Rev. W. Hewitson, Battalion Sergeant-Major J.T. Gillan, Battalion Quartermaster-Sergeant J. Moncrieff.

Lieutenant-Colonel E. R. Smith , V.D., Commanding Officer of the First Battalion, Otago Rifle Volunteers, has long been associated with the volunteer movement. He is well kown in commercial circles, as a member of the firm of Quick and Smith, sharebrokers, Dunedin.

Major S.S. Myers , of the 1st Battalion, Otago Rifle Volunteers, was formerly Captain of the North Dunedin Rifles. He is senior partner in the firm of Messrs S. Myers and Co., dentists of Dunedin, Christchurch, and Invercargill, and is further referred to in the Medical Section of this volume.

Captain-Adjutant Arthur Stoneham , formerly Captain of the Dunedin Highland Rifles, was born and educated in Dunedin, and has been connected with the Highland Rifles since their inception in 1885, when he joined as a drummer boy. He has been through all the various ranks of non-commissioned officers. In 1894 he was elected junior lieutenant, and captain of the corps in 1897. Captain Stoneham is well known as a good shot, and in 1893 he was one of the corps team of five who secured the Ladies' Challenge Shield, and for three years was the holder of the championship of his corps. Captain Stoneham was in conmmand of the Highland detachment forming part of the New Zealand Contingent at the opening of the Federal Parliament in Melbourne. He is a member of the Masonic Lodge Celtic, No. 477, Scottish Constitution, and also belongs to the Order of Oddfellows. On the 18th of September, 1903, on the occasion of Captain Stoneham's promotion as Captain-Adjutant, No. 1 Battalion Otago Rifle Volunteers, the members of the Dunedin Highland Rifles met to congratulate him, and at the same time to express their regret at his severance from the company with which he had been associated for eighteen years. The members and officers of the corps further testified to the esteem in which they held their captain, by the presentation of a sword, a pair of spurs, and an elaborate illuminated address, and by presenting Mrs Stoneham with a silver salver.

Wrigglesworth and Binns, photo.
Capt.-Adjt. A. Stoneham
(As Captain of Dunedin Highland Rifles).

Captain and Quarter-Master John McIndoe , of the 1st Battalion Otago Rifle Volunteer Staff, was born at Rothesay in the Isle of Bute, and arrived in Dunedin in 1859 by the ship “Alpine. He was educated at Dunedin, and in 1893 established his present large printing and bookbinding business in Vogel street; for nine years he has been contractor to the Dunedin City Corporation. Captain McIndoe has been connected with the volunteers since 1879, when he joined the Dunedin Navals as a gunner. Owing to a visit to Sydney he resigned, and in 1884 joined the E Battery in Christchurch. On his return to Dunedin, two years later, he was appointed Lieutenant of the Caversham Rifles, and in 1886 was transferred to the staff of the first Battalion Otago Rifle Volunteers as lieutenant and quartermaster, and received the commission of captain in 1898. Captain McIndoe acted as Quarter-Master in the equipment of the Fourth and Fifth Contingents, and of the Dunedin sections of the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Contingents. As a Freemason he is Past Master of Lodge 931, English Constitution, and Past District Grand Senior Warden.

Wrigglesworth and Binns, photo.
Captain J. McIndoe

Surgeon-Major W. Will , of the 1st Battalion Otago Rifle Volunteers, is referred to elsewhere in this volume as chairman of the St. John Ambulance Association.